Antigone by Sophocles is about how people affected by risk versus reward, and will follow rewards, not always do the right thing. As king, Creon feels no risk in making laws, and feels that the majority of his subjects should agree with him, so by ordering Polyneices' corpse to be left unburied, he feels that he will simply reward himself. Creon also explains that "friends made at the risk of wrecking our ship are not real friends at all" (Sophocles). Creon is threatening the population of Thebes, saying that they will become enemies if they do not follow his orders. The king also shows his own values, saying that no reward of friendship is worth the "risk of wrecking our ship." Antigone also follows rewards when deciding whether or not to bury Polyneices. She wants to act correctly by her religion, and feels that there is no risk in doing so. Antigone has lost everything and everyone except her sister, and her sister does not want to help her, so she does not matter in the face of her brother being eternally tormented. Antigone has nothing left to lose and is "not afraid of the danger; if it means death, it will not be the worst of deaths ––death without honor" (Sophocles). Unlike the others, Ismene chooses not to do what she feels is right, because for her the risk outweighs the reward. Only when she is trapped along with her sister and blamed for helping does she decide that she should have helped. She tells Creon that "if she will let me say so. I am guilty" (Sophocles). When she is already being guarded, Ismene no longer feels that there is anything left to lose, because she will likely die anyway. Instead, she turns to her sister's philosophy and does not want to die a "death without honor." Ismene Mask
Ismene Mask
